Behind The Scenes And on The Set With Anthony De Longis

"DUEL WITH A STRANGER"

Give a Girl a Horse and She'll Steal your Coach

The Queen chases the coach supposedly filled with Montoya's gold. The week before I'd proposed to Richard that we use the whip from horseback to take out two soldiers guarding the coach. Successful whip work from horseback involves a contract with your partner. You promise not to hit him with the whip and he promises not to dump you on your head. If you violate your end by carelessness or a lack of preparation and practice, expect the worst.

At left: Anthony trains Chico for some whip action. Anthony wraps Ricardo's neck with a whip and "pulls him down" - actually, the trained falling horse goes down on cue from Ricardo.

Natalia had been practicing her whip work diligently on the ground and aboard a saddle mounted on a barrel to approximate the special problems encountered on horseback and she was ready for the next step. Ricardo and I tried wrapping the whip from a variety of angles from the front, side and rear and I determined which would be the easiest to teach to Natalia in the limited time we had to rehearse. Natalia took out the first guard by wrapping her whip around his neck as she overtakes him from behind, sort of a "ride-by" whipping. Juaquin did a beautiful horse fall and over the neck tumble to the ground. Juan Miguel, the soldier in front, turns to the attack. Natalia "clothes-lines" him as she passes on the off side and he performed a fine "back off" from his galloping mount. The close up shot the editor chose obscures the whip but that's what we shot and dailies looked great.

This was a busy week for Natalia. All week the coach rumbled along the backstreets of the hacienda as Natalia practiced her horse to coach transfer, her first. Chico, the Queen's steady horse for both first and second unit, was really carrying the load at this point. The other horses had succumbed to the rigors of episodic television. Champion had pulled a muscle jumping from the gallows in "Destiny" and Escandalo had foundered and would be out of commission for quite awhile.

Natalia did a fine job on the day, and the transfer went smoothly. We unhitched the horses and the crew shook the wagon for Tessie's close up climb and dialogue with the driver. Once the driver/actor had jumped into the waiting pads, Tessie grabbed the reins and pretended to drive the racing horses. Chencho was holding the reins to give them tension and Tessie was so enthusiastic, she pulled him off the boxes he was standing on.

At right: The path up the hill was used not only for Dr. Helm's slide in "Vengeance," but also for the Queen to escape from Antonio after he exits the coach.

When Antonio emerges from the carriage to confront the Queen, Natalia lept from the coach onto her the waiting Chico, a much easier drop than the one from the balcony in "Honor Thy Father." I'd planned the Queen's escape route up the steep hill that Dr. Helm had tumbled down during "Vengeance" and she leaves a very frustrated Antonio with no one to fight.

It was fun to see the evolution of the scene between Grisham and Vera. Initially the dialogue called for Grisham to say, "I know his moves now. I know I could beat him," to which Vera replied, "Of course you could." When the episode aired, the dialogue had grown to embrace the physical story.

Grisham: "I know I could beat him."
Vera: "Of course you could."
Grisham: "What's that supposed to mean. You don't believe me."
Vera: "I believe you. But he's a swordsman. That's all he does."
Grisham: "All he does is the Mysterious Circle. It's so predictable. So flashy."

The scene ends with Vera bathing Grisham's physical sword wound as well as soothing his sore ego by allowing him to pull her into his bath. Both Anthony and Elsa did a lovely job.

Adventures in the Bedroom

Antonio's attempts at sleep are interrupted by the Queen trying to explain her purpose. Q: "If all I wanted was gold, I'd take it and disappear. I want justice." A: "The world is not a just place. No one gets their due."

The Queen fights at a distinct disadvantage since she doesn't want to hurt her opponent and lost love, while he is intent upon killing her. This story had to be told in a room with a ceiling so low that I could touch the ceiling with my outstretched hand before I even held a sword. Wooden beams ran the length of the ceiling to make things even tougher on the combatants.

Photo at left: as soon as Christian arrived in Almeria, he began his sword training. Here, during a day off, he works with Anthony at the hacienda location.

Rehearsal time had been spent on bigger, more complex fights in the same episode. This fight, by director's choice, was small. After shooting the principals together, Mary sword-doubled as the Queen so the guest star could increase his speed and performance intensity for his close-ups. I did the same for Tessie's coverage. Since we'd spent months training together, Tessie could go for it with confidence.

I'd worked a clever spinning disarm for Antonio to steal the Queen's blade. After all, these are two sword professionals trained by the same master. You have to work to catch them by surprise. We took time with second unit to cover the disarm in detail so the audience could appreciate the finesse and cleverness of Antonio's move. The editor selected a super close insert that eliminated all such detail, and with it the opportunity to illustrate another aspect of Antonio's intelligence. Both blades appear in his hands without the audience seeing or understanding how he did it.

Copyright 2000-2001 Anthony De Longis. All contents, unless otherwise noted, are the property of Anthony De Longis or used with permission of the copyright owner. All text and photos herein may not be reproduced or distributed without the express written consent of Anthony De Longis, his official representative, or the copyright owner.

The Queen of Swords is trademark of Fireworks Productions, Toronto, Canada, and is a production of Fireworks (Canada), Amy Productions (UK), Morena Films (Spain) and M6 (France), and is distributed in the United States by Paramount. The Official Queen of Swords Website can be found at http://www.thequeenofswords.com.